Historic Sites, Places of Scenic Beauty, and Natural Monuments of Shiga

Discover Shimizuyama Castle Ruins, a designated National Historic Site in Shiga Prefecture. Explore the 13th-century mountain fortress of the Sasaki clan, featuring rare defensive structures and panoramic views of Lake Biwa.

Kōjō-in Garden, a National Place of Scenic Beauty and Historic Site in the precincts of Mii-dera in Otsu, Shiga, is a Momoyama-period pond-viewing garden laid out around 1601. Its pond extends right to the veranda of the National Treasure Kōjō-in Kyakuden, dissolving the boundary between architecture and water. A tortoise island, stone bridge, night-mooring stones, and a hillside dry-waterfall arrangement showcase early-17th-century garden artistry. Open only by advance reservation for special viewing.

Discover Kongorinji Myojuin Garden, a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty in Shiga Prefecture. Three exquisite gardens from the Momoyama to mid-Edo periods surround this Tendai temple, one of the famed Koto Sanzan trio near Lake Biwa.

The Shigaraki Palace Ruins in Kōka City, Shiga Prefecture, preserve the remains of Emperor Shōmu's 8th-century imperial capital — the very place where Japan's Great Buddha was first conceived before being realized at Tōdai-ji in Nara. This National Historic Site features 335 original Nara-period foundation stones, over 7,000 wooden tablets, and rare Man'yōshū poetry inscriptions. Combined with Shigaraki's renowned ceramic heritage, it offers an unforgettable journey into Japan's Tenpyō-era culture.

Discover the Gansanken and Rantei Gardens at Daitsuji Temple in Nagahama, Shiga Prefecture. These nationally designated Places of Scenic Beauty feature Edo-period dry landscape and pond gardens with borrowed scenery of Mt. Ibuki, alongside masterpiece paintings by Kano Sanraku, Kano Sansetsu, and Maruyama Okyo.

Chausuyama Kofun is a 122-meter keyhole-shaped burial mound on a ridge above Lake Biwa, built around 1,600 years ago and designated a National Historic Site in 1921.

A National Historic Site since 2020, the Nagahara and Iba Goten in Shiga are remains of palaces used exclusively by the Tokugawa shoguns on the road to Kyoto.

A 4.48-meter granite tahōtō, dated by inscription to 1241, stands on Mount Bodaiji in Konan, Shiga, with carved Jizō and Enma stones at the lost Shōbodai-ji temple.

Hyakusai-ji's grounds in Higashiomi, Shiga, a National Historic Site since 2008, hold 200 terraced ruins of a mountain temple Oda Nobunaga burned in 1573.

At the foot of Mt. Hiei, the 400,000-square-meter precincts of Hiyoshi Taisha hold two National Treasure halls, ancient stone bridges, and Shinto-Buddhist roots.

A national Place of Scenic Beauty in Maibara, this waterless garden centers on a stone waterfall, viewed from a shoin moved from the Azai clan's Odani Castle.

The Minami-Shiga-cho Temple Ruins in Otsu mark a 7th-century temple near the short-lived Otsu capital, with a pagoda foundation stone and a scorpion-pattern tile.

Japan's westernmost hananoki maple and a National Natural Monument in Higashiomi, Shiga. Its hollow trunk fell in 2010, yet it still flowers crimson each April.

A ginkgo at Ryōtoku-ji temple in Maibara bears its seeds along its leaf edges. A National Natural Monument since 1929, it is one of only seven such trees in Japan.

Shiga’s registered properties across designations, with featured heritage and travel notes.

The complete kokuhō catalogue — browse by prefecture, period, and category.

Nationwide jūyō bunkazai — architecture, sculpture, painting, crafts, and documents.